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HACKERS AND Y2K

As the millenium approached, concerns about the Y2K (year 2000) bug surfaced. At that time, many computer programs stored dates as two digits (e.g., "99" for "1999"). People worried that a date of "00" might be read by computers as "1900" rather than "2000" and cause computers to malfunction or shut down. As business and government agencies scrambled to patch these programs, concern grew that terrorists would try to take advantage of the situation and hack into such systems. However, corporations and government bodies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, took steps to secure programs, preventing hackers from crashing vital services, such as the distribution of social security checks.